Annmarie Vaccaro watches her daughter-in-law, Theresa Vaccaro, shop for furniture for her new home at United House Wreckers in Stamford, Conn., which is celebrating 60 years in business. The Vaccaro's traveled from Suffolk County on Long Island to shop at the store.
Photo: Lindsay Perry

As the construction of I-95 brought old estates tumbling down in 1954, Stamford's Lodato brothers were originally there to pick up the pieces. Conceived as a demolition business, United House Wrecking started collecting a slew of old bricks, lumber, odd doors and leftover pieces of furniture from homes that had bitten the dust. The business' founders didn't initially think anyone would have much use for the old items.

It wasn't until nearly 15 years later that United House Wrecking -- started by John, Phil and Ross Lodato, plus brother-in-law Ray Bowling -- realized these bits and bobs from wrecked homes and vanished estates could be turned into a lucrative business.

"We're always still looking for unusual stuff," said Ross Lodato, one of the store's current owners. "Even during the recession (in 2008 and 2009), we consistently brought in new products."

Family business

United House Wrecking, marking its 60th anniversary this year, has become something of a Stamford institution. Moved from its first Selleck Street location in 1988, the business now runs, with about 17 employees, out of a 43,000-square-foot spot on Hope Street. Managing the store are the original owners' sons, Mario and Ross Lodato, with a cousin, Andy Cunningham, serving as general manager, and Mario's son, Phil Lodato, handling communications and social media. All of them have trained in the family business since childhood.

"We're in the store almost every day," Phil said.

Over the past six decades, the business has evolved further, always following client and industry demands, Ross said. Customers come to United House Wrecking now not just for salvaged antiques but also for new furniture, custom-made items and other home decor elements, relatively new additions to the ever-changing store. In another arm of the building, a design center showcases brighter-hued, modern furniture that might look just as much at home at a store like Ethan Allen. They're also engaged in the online antiques marketplace, selling through the website 1stdibs.com.

Changing tastes

"They're all very much engaged in it (the industry)," said Jack Condlin, president of the Stamford Chamber of Commerce. "They have a good nose for business and a good eye for the market. They know what's selling."

As in any market, customer tastes can change. Houses are now being built with more open spaces and have less room for large, heavy furniture pieces or dining sets, Ross said. The younger generation currently building and furnishing homes is less interested generally in antiques and keener to find clean-lined, almost industrial-style pieces.

"You want to hang onto what you've been doing for years, but you have to take a stretch to what the new generation wants," Ross said. "You can't be a museum."

He paused for a moment. "Well, I guess it is kinda like a museum."

Customers walking into United House Wrecking, whether for the first or 15th time, are bound to be a little overwhelmed. Most of the cavernous space is packed with antique furniture, chandeliers, ceramics and the quirky vintage items that Phil calls "conversation pieces."

There's a pair of chipped blue seats from the old Yankee Stadium, which sold by the "hundreds" in the 1970s for between $25 and $35, according to Phil. Now, they're priced at $3,500. A taxidermied bear's head with a fake apple stuck in its mouth looms over one wall, while a menagerie of mythical animals populates a small carousel in another corner of the store. Framed posters from B-movie westerns starring Hoot Gibson in the 1930s are stacked up in a room filled with stately wooden furniture. An old TV set, with a wood frame and round channel dial, now doubles as fish tank next to the front desk.

`Inspiring' ideas

"It's eclectic, it's just overwhelming," said Easton resident Steve Tramposch, browsing through the store Tuesday afternoon. "I've just got some money burning in my pocket right now. I try to come here every once in a while, to see what's new."

Another customer, Westport resident Cindy Hall, strolled through the store's yard, walking around clusters of garden statues and stone benches. Her childhood home in Greenwich had been furnished with items from United House Wrecking in the 1960s, but she hasn't been back to the store in nearly 20 years.

"It's really always interesting to come and see what they have," she said. "It inspires you to have ideas for your house and garden."

Once a year, the staff conducts a laborious by-hand inventory of the stock. Some items come into United House Wrecking and are gone within days; other will linger for decades. Phil pointed out a "fixture" of the store, a pair of Chinese guardian lions that flank the entrance and have done so since 1988.